Human Rights and Extractive Sector Background

Kenya is at a pivotal moment in history and stands at the verge of massive socio-economic change given its recent discoveries of oil, natural gas and minerals.  Because of this, many have predicted a huge economic boom for the country.  However, how these resources will accelerate development in Kenya and what the environmental and social costs will be, particularly to local communities, remains to be seen.  Indeed, in the coming years of exploration and exploitation, Kenya, like so many other similarly endowed developing countries, may be forced to confront that troubling and oft’ deadly  euphemism, the “resource curse”.  Resource curse has created some of Africa’s most horrific massacres, war crimes, and crimes against humanity not to mention environmental degradation, worsened gender & socio-economic inequalities, and displaced communities, among others.  It is thus critical that a balance is struck which ensures that economic growth spurred by a viable extractive sector is accompanied by sustainable human development.  in our view, negative impacts of the extractive process must be mitigated to the extent that the country and local communities, both during and after the life of the extractive project, are better advantaged by it presence.

REPORT ON KI’S ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE EXTRACTIVE SECTOR (OIL, GAS, AND MINERALS) 21ST MAY 2014. Report o KI’s Rountable on Extractive